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Problem of Evil

Pain and evil constitute the most serious challenge to the existence of a God who is good and all-powerful. There have been quite a few answers and because many of them are compatible with each other, most people use more than one. According to the free-will defense, evil comes from humans misusing the blessing of free will. According to another argument (from secondary goods) some evil is necessary for the existence of certain types of good. For example, forgiveness exists only where there is sin to forgive, and compassion exists only where there is suffering. We see these qualities in God and can develop them in ourselves only in a fallen world. According to another argument, some pain and suffering comes from the regularity that has to exist in the physical world if we are to make rational and moral choices. Gravity, for instance, has to work all the time, even when we are careless with a ladder; wood has to be hard for both the construction worker who wants to build and the thug who wants to harm.
Quick Notes on the Problem of Evil
Some notes about the problem of Pain and Evil by Brian Morley
Is God The Author of Evil?
The assertion in this passage is so that Marcion, an early Christian heretic, used this text to prove that the God of the Old Testament was a different being from the God of the New. Thus the nature of this hard saying is simply this: Is God the author of evil?
Is God The Author of Evil?
The assertion in this passage is so that Marcion, an early Christian heretic, used this text to prove that the God of the Old Testament was a different being from the God of the New. Thus the nature of this hard saying is simply this: Is God the author of evil?
Is God The Author of Evil?
The assertion in this passage is so that Marcion, an early Christian heretic, used this text to prove that the God of the Old Testament was a different being from the God of the New. Thus the nature of this hard saying is simply this: Is God the author of evil?
Why Does God Allow War?
The Bible does not isolate war, as if it were something separate and unique and quite apart, as we tend to do in our thinking. It is but one of the manifestations of sin, one of the consequences of sin. On a larger scale, perhaps, and in a more terrible form for that reason, but still, in its essence, precisely the same as all the other effects and consequences of sin. To ask God to prohibit war or to prevent war, therefore, is to ask Him to prohibit one of the particular consequences of sin. Or, if we take the view that war itself is actual sin, it is to ask God to prohibit one particular sin.
Why Does God Allow War?
The Bible does not isolate war, as if it were something separate and unique and quite apart, as we tend to do in our thinking. It is but one of the manifestations of sin, one of the consequences of sin. On a larger scale, perhaps, and in a more terrible form for that reason, but still, in its essence, precisely the same as all the other effects and consequences of sin. To ask God to prohibit war or to prevent war, therefore, is to ask Him to prohibit one of the particular consequences of sin. Or, if we take the view that war itself is actual sin, it is to ask God to prohibit one particular sin.
Why Does God Allow War?
The Bible does not isolate war, as if it were something separate and unique and quite apart, as we tend to do in our thinking. It is but one of the manifestations of sin, one of the consequences of sin. On a larger scale, perhaps, and in a more terrible form for that reason, but still, in its essence, precisely the same as all the other effects and consequences of sin. To ask God to prohibit war or to prevent war, therefore, is to ask Him to prohibit one of the particular consequences of sin. Or, if we take the view that war itself is actual sin, it is to ask God to prohibit one particular sin.